Opening the Conversation
COLab - December 5, 2020
There are times when she does not recognize herself. Who is this cautious woman whose heart hammers when she hears her kids cough or when the latest national political outrage...
On Edge: Personal Stories
A statewide series on how the recent confluence of crises has tested Coloradans’ mental health
- Elizabeth Torres, 38, walks in Denver's Garfield Park one afternoon. Torres was hospitalized with COVID-19 in March. (Photo by Marc Piscotty / © 2020)
About the Project
Reporters Susan Greene and Tina Griego capture this extraordinary time in which a confluence of major crises have set Coloradans on edge, testing individuals, communities and an already overtaxed mental health care system.
Working with COLab partner journalists across the state and photographer Marc Piscotty, Greene and Griego share the lived experiences of everyday Coloradans as they grapple with the body blows dealt by the pandemic, the shaky economy, climate-change driven fire and drought, civil rights reckoning and a polarizing election.
Working with COLab partner journalists across the state and photographer Marc Piscotty, Greene and Griego share the lived experiences of everyday Coloradans as they grapple with the body blows dealt by the pandemic, the shaky economy, climate-change driven fire and drought, civil rights reckoning and a polarizing election.
The Work
Help and Hope for Mental Health
COLab - March 18, 2021
Coloradans joined in a statewide conversation on mental health during these challenging times. 9News and the rest of the Colorado News Collaborative presented a one-hour statewide conversation about mental health as...
After Wanting to Die, Learning to Live
COLab - January 29, 2021
By Susan Greene
Navee Essien has grown up keenly aware of her gifts. More times than she can count, people have reminded the senior at Aurora’s Rangeview High how fortunate she is to...
How Friendship Can Be a Mental-Health Safety Net
COLab - January 26, 2021
By Susan Greene
It started about four years ago when Laurel Carpenter and Melissa Humphrey bought matching parkas and then matching comfort shoes. Soon enough, the nurses-slash-best friends from Grand Junction found themselves...
For Tylan Jones, Anxiety is Also a Battle Between Optimism and Pessimism
COLab - January 21, 2021
By Tina Griego
Tylan Jones is not naive. He is a 20-year-old Black man living in the United States. This reality does not easily accommodate naivete. When he was in middle school, he...
Veteran Paramedic Grapples With COVID’s Toll on His Lungs and Sense of Self
COLab - January 13, 2021
By Tina Griego
Even now, nearly three months after COVID invaded his body, Jason McGinnis cannot stop asking himself how he contracted the virus. On its face, the answer seems clear: He’s a...
When Politics Feels Like a Moral Injury
COLab - January 7, 2021
By Susan Greene
Scott Zayatz upped his dosage of antidepression and antianxiety medication in early spring when the pandemic started clobbering the nation and the presidential race, post-primary, turned foul. The 43-year-old news...
Reflections
Working Together to Do Better
Laura Frank - December 2, 2020
Dear reader, I want to introduce you to Alfonzo Porter. He is the thoughtful and talented editor of Denver Urban Spectrum, which serves the city’s Black community. But he is much more...
Working Through Uncertainty
Laura Frank - November 13, 2020
Dear reader, Yesterday, Susan Greene was hard at work — helping a trio of our partner newspaper editors prep for a project with the Colorado News Collaborative. She helped lead a...
The Pits in Our Stomachs
Susan Greene - November 2, 2020
Dear reader, Words generally come easily for me. But I have been struggling for seven months to name how it feels to live through this time. The pit in my...
On Longing
Susan Greene - August 6, 2020
Dear reader, Tina and I have spent much of the last month knee-deep in documents for a difficult investigative project we’re still piecing together. So instead of a newsy newsletter,...
The Hardest Stories
Susan Greene - July 24, 2020
Colorado has one of the highest suicide rates in the nation. Under a grant from the Carter Center and family of Ben Rosenthal, we will be chronicling mental health issues...
On Edge: Personal Stories
Related Opportunities
December 31, 2021
▪︎ ONGOING OPPORTUNITY ▪︎ The Journalist Trauma Support Network (JTSN) is a new pilot program...
March 18, 2021
At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, March 18, 2021, the Colorado News Collaborative and our news partners...
November 24, 2020
Times are tough all over, maybe more so than any point in most of our...
This project was made possible through unprecedented collaboration between dozens of newsrooms and journalists across the state, who are active partners in the Colorado News Collaborative, or COLab.
To support the statewide effort, donate to the Colorado News Collaborative.